Redox sorting of carbon nanotubes

US10858256B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• University of Southern California · US
• The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Commerce National Institite of Standards and Technology · US

Inventors

• Hui Gui · Los Angeles, US
• Jason Streit · Gaithersburg, US
• Angela R. Hight Walker · Gaithersburg, US
• Chongwu Zhou · Arcadia, US
• Ming Zheng · Chapel Hill, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 22, 2016
• Grant date: Dec 8, 2020
• Expiry date: Feb 26, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S977/845
• WIPO field: Materials, metallurgy
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A method of separating and extracting carbon nanotubes, the method includes introducing the carbon nanotubes into a two-phase system that includes a first component and a second component, the first component being different from the second component. The method includes introducing a chemical agent into the two-phase system, mixing the chemical agent and the carbon nanotubes in the two-phase system, removing the first component to extract a first portion of the carbon nanotubes contained in the first component after the mixing, replenishing the two-phase system with fresh first component, and extracting a second portion of the carbon nanotubes contained in the fresh first component. A bandgap of the carbon nanotubes in the first portion is different from the bandgap of the carbon nanotubes in the second portion.